Main Revival Movements in the Catholic Church Before the Second Vatican Council

Abstract

From the middle of the 19 th century until convocation of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), several spiritual and intellectual revival movements were visible in the Catholic Church. They had one overarching objective – return to the origins (French: ressourcement ). The revival of Biblical Studies, as the first of these movements, was implemented mainly at two specialist universities: the School of Practical Biblical Studies (French: Ecole pratique d’etudes bibliques) of Father Marie-Joseph Lagrange OP and at the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Pontificium Institutum Biblicum) founded by Pope Saint Pius X. The Movement of Liturgical renewal, on the other hand, began at the Benedictine abbeys in Belgium, France and Germany, and was later popularised by Father Prosper Gueranger OSB, Father Lambert Beauduin OSB and Father Odo Casel OSB. Similarly as in the case of the Biblical revival, the teaching of successive Popes – and of Pius XII in particular – had a significant influence on changes in the Catholic liturgy. In contrast, the Ecumenical Movement was characterised by its bottom-up nature, and its beginnings were associated initially with Protestant missionary circles. An important contribution to this transformative movement were meetings between the Catholic and the Anglican Church, known as the Malines Conversations (French: Conversations des Malines), as well as the Una Sancta ecumenical movement developing robustly in Germany. Finally, the last crucial phenomenon – ain particular from the perspective of genesis of the Second Vatican Council – was the rise of Nouvelle Theologie, a new school of thought in Catholic theology. Its representatives include leading theologians of the 20 th century: Father Henri de Lubac SJ, Father Karl Rahner SJ, Father Yves Congar OP, Father Marie-Dominique Chenu OP, as well as Father Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and Father Hans Kung. It should be emphasised all the above Catholic renewal movements had a decisive influence on development of dominant tendencies at the Second Vatican Council, and the consequent conceptual framework used in the Council documents.